


Serendipity

by lydiastxles



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Porn with Feelings, Romance, Smut, Strangers, a tiny bit angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-04 05:51:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12162801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lydiastxles/pseuds/lydiastxles
Summary: There was something about a clear sky at night. Lydia particularly liked those, without clouds or stars, showing how big the universe really was, making it clear that no star or planet or anything that was out there put an end to the vastitude of the universe. Because in this universe, Lydia Martin is sitting next to this boy, pretending to be in a fake relationship to prove something to her ex-boyfriend.In another universe, she’d be solving any problems she had with a simple logic. Everything would be clean and efficient. No place for heartbreaks, lies and manipulation. The sky would still be clear and she’d not be in this situation with Stiles.





	Serendipity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [my_inked_asterism](https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_inked_asterism/gifts).



> This is for the prettiest girl I know, the funniest, sexiest, smartest wifey someone could ask for.  
> Giulia baby, this is for you.  
> Happy Birthday, love!  
> Thank you for being such an amazing person, to share with me all the angst that's in your heart (i love you), to make me fall in love even more with Stydia and for being there whenever I need you. And even though the show that put us together is over, we're definitely not.  
> So, this is my gift for you. I hope you like this. I love you so much!
> 
> -
> 
> A huge thank you for Farah (@slowburnotptrash) for helping me with ideas for this fic and for always being there when I was freaking out with anything at all regarding plot or fic title. Bless you, baby, for everything. This wouldn't be done if it wasn't for you. And shout out for Sydney (@stilesprefers-screamers) for helping me with the whole fraternity lingo and Elly (@rapsberrylimonade) for being my beta for this fic. You guys are amazing.
> 
> Also, Lydia Martin does not approve unprotect sex, so always be safe!

_Serendipity_

_(n) finding something good without looking for it_

 

* * *

 

 

“A pool party, Allison?” Lydia stared at her friend. “Seriously? I haven’t been in a pool party since… My 12th birthday.”

Allison rolled her eyes while putting some clothes on her bag. “C’mon, the guys have a great pool and I know how much you love to put on your bathing suit.” Lydia crossed her arms, still not sold on the idea. “It’s important to me that you come.”

The girls were invited by Allison’s boyfriend, Scott McCall, to spend the weekend in his fraternity house. The main goal of the invite was for Allison to finally meet Scott’s friends and roommates and the party was a good event for that to happen.

Lydia thought that sentiment was very endearing of him, but there was no need for her to go. The only person she’d know besides Allison was Scott. Soon enough, she’d be alone in the middle of a party she wasn’t even invited to and that wasn’t something she was feeling up to. According to Allison, his friends would welcome her as well and make sure she wouldn’t be all by herself, but Lydia knew how it was hard for her to make new friends. She preferred to spend her weekend doing something else, like solving chemical equations or checking out that new bookstore in town.

“I know it is. And I do love to wear my bathing suit, but I… don’t have time for this. You know I have to finish that essay for my class and it’s worth half of my grade.” She tried to lie, hoping she’d believe it.

“You finished it two days ago, remember?” Lydia groaned, sitting on Allison’s bed. The one time that being smart was a burden around Allison. “Lydia, _please_. If they don’t like me, I need someone by my side. This is important.”

“There’s no way they won’t like you. Everybody likes you.” Allison’s stare persisted on Lydia until she gave in. With a defeated sigh, she grabbed the empty bag her friend offered earlier and stood up. “Fine. But you owe me.”

It wasn’t that Lydia hated parties. Back in her hometown, she was known for throwing the best parties in the city – her birthday party was the event of the year. Everybody wanted an invitation. The problem was what her invitation implied, especially if she was going to stay the weekend at his house

Since her relationship ended a couple of months ago, her best friend and her boyfriend were determined to make her move on as fast as she could. So they’d set her up on various blind dates with people they knew nothing about. Lydia appreciated the gesture, so she agreed to go out with them. But after the third guy, who was a complete idiot, Lydia decided to make things a little more entertaining and act as the worst version of herself: making sure to bore them with frivolous conversations or acting rude.

Scott tried to be more selective of the guys he chose for Lydia. Normally they were his acquaintances or colleagues, all which Lydia stood up somewhere. It was one thing to go on a date with some stranger; the other was to date someone who she might see on an occasion or another, being friends with Scott.

Which was the current case. Some of the boys she stood up actually lived with Scott and meeting them would be awkward. The fact that this weekend would also be a great opportunity for them to trap Lydia to get to know one of them better was another reason why she didn’t want to make an appearance.

She considered trying to convince Allison one more time, but it was important for her friend. Putting a fake smile on her face, she finished her bag, ready to go.

It was going to be a _long_ weekend.

 

* * *

 

 

The house Scott lived – a fraternity named Alpha Beta Omega – was the last house on the street, right next to the woods. She was impressed on how big it was, painted in a vibrant red color. The house was two stores and in front it, she could see the symbols of the fraternity’s name.

Lydia relaxed a little seeing there was no loud music or a lot of people in the house. Maybe it was just some people hanging out, she thought hopefully, as Allison knocked on the door.

A tall handsome man, definitely not a student, opened the door. He looked a little intimidating, but Lydia tried not to jump to conclusions since she gave the same vibe for a lot of people. He smiled in their direction, giving space for them to get in. Allison put her bag on the floor and gave him a quick hug.

“Derek, this is my friend Lydia.” He nodded at her as she did the same. “This is Derek, he’s the founding father of the chapter.”

“Nice to meet you, Derek.” She greeted politely.

“You too.” He closed the door and pointed to the opposite side of the house, showing a glass door. “Everybody’s outside. Scott’s upstairs in his room. If you want to change clothes, the bathroom is upstairs, first door on the right.” He looked at Allison. “Scott’s room is the third on the left.”

“Thank you.” She grabbed her bag and went upstairs. Not even waiting for Derek to be out of reach, she looked at Lydia. “He’s hot, right?”

 _Here it goes_ , she thought, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah and I bet Scott will love hearing you admire his friends’ ‘hotness’.” Allison smiled. “I thought you said you didn’t know his friends.”

“I don’t. I only met Derek once. He was the one who picked us up when started to rain in the middle of our third date.” Allison passed the bathroom door, going straight to Scott’s room. “Let’s say hi to the most attractive guy here.”

“Oh, wait until he hears that.” Lydia smiled, following her. Before Allison could knock, they heard Scott’s voice.

“Malia… Yes, I…” Lydia glanced at Allison, who kept a straight face. “For the love of God, let me talk.” It was clear he was on the phone, so the brunette opened the door slowly, not making a noise and stepped in, with Lydia just behind her. He was sitting on his bed, back facing them. “I don’t know what happened. It wasn’t me driving… Jesus, put Kira on the phone.” He paused for a moment. “Kira, like I told Malia, he’s coming to get you guys. She can kill Isaac when you get here, okay?” He stood up. “Great. Try to calm Malia down. Bye.”

“I really hope Malia isn’t another girlfriend,” Allison said with a smile on her face. Scott turned around and flashed a big smile. “Because then we’d have a problem.”

“Well, if she were, I think that not only you but Malia’s girlfriend would kill me. Since I’d rather stay alive, I’m going to stick with no.” He gave her a chaste kiss that turned into a make-out session, making Lydia uncomfortable. She cleared her throat and poked Allison.

“Okay, lovebirds, I’m not here to watch you two have sex.” Allison stepped away and Scott hugged Lydia. “Promise you won’t try to set me up with anybody.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dare.” He didn’t sound like he meant it, but Lydia tried to get passed that. He kissed both girls cheeks. “Okay, I’ll check on Kira’s situation and you can change clothes here.”

When Scott left them alone, Lydia turned to Allison.

“Just so I know, how many guys that live here have I stood up?”

“Uh… One. The other ones were just classmates.” Allison put her hair up and grabbed her sunglasses.

When Lydia finished changing into her shorts, they went down to the living room where Scott and a few other people were talking. Three people, two girls, and a guy stood next to him. Seeing his girlfriend, Scott smiled brightly and took her hand.

“Guys, this is Allison. My girlfriend.” The way he introduced Allison to his friends made Lydia’s heart warmer. The way his lips turned to a soft smile and how her best friend couldn’t stop smiling over his words only confirmed how much in love with each other they were. It was almost like he couldn’t hide his excitement on them meeting her. “And this is Lydia, her best friend.” The taller girl smiled and sent her a small wave, but the shorter one stepped towards and pulled both into a hug.

“Oh God, Kira.” The other girl pulled her back. “Hi, I’m Malia. That’s Kira, she gets way too excited about things.”

“Well, it’s not every day that we get to meet, for the first time ever, Scott McCall’s girlfriend.”

Scott turned bright red, making the other guy laugh a little. Malia rolled her eyes and pulled Kira outside, saying that it was time to murder Isaac for damaging her car.

“So, since I have the worst best friend ever…” The guy stepped forward. “I’m Stiles, nice to meet you, ladies.”

Stiles. _Stiles_. That name was incredibly familiar to Lydia. She couldn’t place quite where she’d heard it before, but, apparently, Allison did.

“Oh, _you’re_ Stiles. I’m so sorry about Lydia.” Allison apologized, looking at her friend, who seemed confused. “If I had any idea she was going to stand you up, I wouldn’t have let you wait for her for two hours in the rain.”

Oh. The realization came like a slap. She remembered now. He was the friend Lydia was supposed to go on a date with several weeks ago. She recalled how Scott was rambling for two days on how he found the perfect match for her. Lydia believed him but decided not to go, preferring to be alone for a second. Instead, she went to a cozy coffee shop to finish some of her essays.

When she returned to her apartment, around midnight, Allison had smiled at her excitedly, asking a bunch of questions about the date. But seeing how her friend was carrying all her books, the smile vanished. She didn’t speak to Lydia for a whole day.

“Don’t worry about it.” He grinned awkwardly. “But I must say, it’s nice to put a face on the girl who gave me a cold for three days.”

He didn’t sound bitter, so Lydia just smiled back, wishing to murder Allison for dragging her into that situation.

But Stiles changed the subject quickly, talking to Allison and Scott, which gave Lydia a chance to have a better look at him. He was a good-looking guy; Allison and Scott had a pretty good taste for her set ups. Stiles was at least 5’11’’ and had a very inviting whiskey eyes and multiple dimples all over his face. His brown hair went in every direction, almost looking like he had just gotten out of bed.  But what caught her attention was his lips. As she watched him talk, she noticed how he constantly ran his tongue around it or the way he bit lower lip. Lydia was so fixated on them that she almost didn’t hear Allison calling her to go outside.

A few hours later, the girls had already been introduced to everyone. Allison was in fact right – there wasn’t a lot of people. Most of them, Lydia learned, lived at the house and they were all nice. She found out that Derek, the owner, was there all the time. He’d already graduated and was working on his master’s in history. Surprisingly, he was very easy to talk to.

Isaac was kind of hard to get to know. His interactions with the group consisting on teasing Stiles or giving sarcastic comments on his conversations. But what surprised her more was to find out that one of her friends from high school, Danny, also lived there.

Danny was one of the few people that Lydia was comfortable talking to in her teenage years. Even though he was her ex’s best friend, he always cared about her. But after the breakup, Lydia decided that it was best for her to cut all contacts with their common friends and, unfortunately, that included Danny.

He was the only one she truly missed. Catching up with him seemed just like old times, talking about anything at all and feeling like she mattered. He didn’t bring Jackson once, instead, he decided to tell her about how he was going to move in with his boyfriend.

After a while of drinking and socializing, Malia, Isaac, Stiles, and Lydia decided to get in the pool to freshen up. The first two were trying to dunk each other, failing miserably on execution, given how drunk they were. Stiles and Lydia, on the other side of the pool, were in a heated discussion about one of their shared interests.

“I’m sorry, but why on earth is Cersei your favorite character?” He asked disbelieved. “Have you watched the show? She’s horrible!”

“She’s the smartest of them all!” Lydia smiled. “Look at her, she’s a powerful woman, she can play everyone and you can say a lot about her, but there’s no denying that what she’s done to save her children is incredibly admirable.”

“Well, yes, but it’s her kids. A parent always fights for their kids.”

“Not every parent. Not always.” Stiles noticed a glimpse of sadness in her eyes, but it’s gone so fast that he didn’t have a chance to ask. “She’s far from perfect, she has an incestuous relationship with her brother and she’s horrible to everyone she sees as a threat — or anyone at all, really —, but you gotta admit that she’s the smartest character on the show.”

“Maybe… But I still hate her.” Lydia rolled her eyes and Stiles smiled. “I do like Tyrion.”

“Good choice. Predictable, but still good.” He looked at her outraged. “What? It’s true! Tyrion is a great character, he’s smart and shouldn’t be taken for granted, but he’s also so predictable. Everyone loves him for being sarcastic and funny, but he’s careless. He killed his father, he sent away Shae and then was surprised when she ruined him.” He opened his mouth disbelief. “Let’s not forget that he’s so focused on bringing his family down that he made a lot of mistakes this season.”

Stiles didn’t blink. “What… How… I hate you. I’m going to leave you all by yourself.”

Lydia just smiled innocently at him, satisfied that she had won the argument. Stiles shook his head disapproving, but with a smirk on his face. He liked Lydia. A lot. Even though she stood him up on the first date he had in months, getting to know her better, he didn’t mind it as much as he did when it happened.

As soon as he turned away from her to start to swim, Lydia saw her ex-boyfriend. He was looking exactly the same from two months ago. He was still the handsome guy she’d fallen in love with back in high school, looking like the most popular kid around there and acting like he was the king of the place.

Seeing Jackson made her body freeze. Seeing him with another girl in his arms, made her feel empty inside. She was having a hard time to just move on and there he was, with his new girlfriend. She quickly turned Stiles around, looking desperately at him.

“Stiles, kiss me.”

“What?!” He asked frowning.

“My ex-boyfriend just showed up. He’s talking to Danny.” Stiles looked over subtly and saw the boy grabbing a beer with a smirk on his face. His mouth turned into a straight line, recognizing him. His reputation was well-known around campus and Stiles was shocked to know Lydia was one of his victims. “Please.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” She said firmly.

Jackson started to move in their direction, still unaware of the strawberry blonde girl presence. Stiles looked at her and grabbed her by the waist pulling her closer. He smiled shyly and leaned towards her, kissing Lydia gently.

Lydia wanted to explode. It was weird to kiss someone that wasn’t Jackson. Not in a bad way, of course. While Jackson’s kisses were rough and cold, Stiles’ was warm and sweet. He kissed her like she was a fragile doll and he was afraid of breaking her. It felt like it was a kiss that meant something, not just some mechanical action.

His hands rested on her waist, with his thumbs stroking her lower back softly, but firm. Her arms were around his neck, with one hand in his hair, passing her finger through it. Lydia had no idea how long she’d been kissing him but as soon as they separated, she realized it wasn’t as long as she wished. Their foreheads were touching and they were looking at each other, surprised and with a little smile on their faces.

“Lydia?” Jackson’s voice brought her back to the real world, as he called her coldly. She sighed and looked at him, who was also inside the pool, just a few feet away.

“Oh… Hello, Jackson.” She smiled at him politely. Stiles moved behind her, hugging her in a protective way. “How are you?”

“Who the hell is this?” He ignored her questions and pointed at Stiles. Before she could answer, Stiles talked.

“I’m her boyfriend. Stiles.” He waved coolly at him. “Nice to meet you, _Jason_.”

“It’s Jackson.” He corrected, holding himself from screaming. Jackson looked at Lydia, who was containing a smile from the oh so subtle mistake Stiles had made. “You’re fast, aren’t you little bitch?” Lydia froze for a second with the name calling, but that didn’t stop her from giving him an answer.

“Well, that’s what happens when your ex doesn't please you enough, right?” She gestures her pinkie, making his eyes angrier. Stiles snorted behind her.

“You frigid little whore…”

Lydia felt Stiles tense behind her. He let go of her waist, walking towards Jackson. As much as her ex-boyfriend was strong, Stiles looked a lot more intimidating when he stood right in front of him, being taller and glaring at him angrily.

“What did you called my girlfriend?” He asked firmly. Jackson didn’t say anything. “C’mon, repeat it. I dare you.”

It felt like everyone had stopped to watch what was happening in the pool. Lydia, noticing it, touched Stiles’ arm gently, making both look at her.

“C’mon babe. He’s not worth it.” She took his hand and pulled him to her. Jackson, as soon as Stiles went to Lydia’s arms, got off the pool and went inside the house, slamming the door. Still touching each other, Lydia smiled thankfully to Stiles. “Thank you. Really.”

“Nah, it’s nothing. That guy is an asshole, though.” She pulls back a little. “Uh… I think Danny invited him to spend the weekend too. What are you going to do?”

Lydia sighed, closing her eyes. It had slipped her mind that she was going to stay there for two more days. She couldn’t believe the situation she had gotten herself into. Without saying anything, Lydia left the pool, going to a quiet place far away from the group staring at her.

Soon enough, Allison joined her with a concerned look on her face. After Lydia explained to her what had happened and the whole situation she was in right now, the thought of going home was inviting. But she knew her friend all too well. Allison would join her in a blink of an eye, and that was something she couldn't ask her to do. Lydia refused to ruin this weekend for her best friend.

So they decided to have a plan. After a few minutes of discussion, the best resolution they could come up with was to continue to pretend she and Stiles were dating. It was just for a short period of time and that way she could show Jackson she had moved on and give him a little taste of his own venom.

The only problem in that plan was to get Stiles on board with it. He could easily say no and everything would be ruined.

Seeing that the boy was walking towards them, Allison stood up, going back to the group of people of the party. Stiles took her place, with a concerned expression.

“Look if I did something that made you uncomfortable, I'm _so_ sorry.”

She blinked, surprised.

“What? No, you didn't do anything.”

“Oh… I thought…” he shook his head. “Are you okay?”

“I guess… I'm fine. I just wish he wasn't here.” He nodded. “If I knew he was going to be here I'd never ask you to kiss me.”

“Thank you.” She smiled playfully.

“You know what I meant…” Lydia sighed. “Do you mind if we continue this fake relationship for the rest of the weekend? I know it's a lot to ask and that you must have a horrible impression of me for standing you up, but I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't important.”

“I don't mind. I actually wished someone did this for me when my ex dumped me a few months ago.” He said watching Allison talk to his friends. “I mean, it's going to be a fucking nightmare to pretend to date someone who likes Cersei, but…”

“Thank you. I swear I'll make it up to you.”

“Nah, don't worry about it. That’s what a fake boyfriend is for” He stood up, offering his hand. “And just so you know, I don’t have any bad impressions of you.”

She accepted his hand, standing up.

 

* * *

 

 

The night came without any special event.

The group dynamic seemed to come back to normal. Allison had become closer to Kira, teaming up with her to talk about Scott. Lydia found a new drink buddy in Malia, both bringing down Isaac in a drinking game he dared them to play. She was surprised she was able to mingle with all those people since it was never easy for her to get along with strangers.

Jackson joined the group a few hours later, keeping his distance from Lydia and Stiles, but still glaring at them from time to time while talking with his blonde companion.

The girl he’d brought was Erica Reyes.  She was a stunning girl, giving Malia a run for her money as the fittest one there. For what Lydia observed, the only person she knew was Isaac, which made it easier for her to fit in, but since she didn’t leave Jackson’s side, Erica basically talked with Danny and Jackson.

The group decided to order pizza and watch a movie by the end of the night. While the guys were ordering and setting up the place for everyone to fit in the living room, the girls went upstairs to take a shower and put on more comfortable clothes. Lydia and Allison were once again in Scott’s room, finishing getting ready.

“I see you and Kira are getting along really well,” Lydia said while looking for a sweater in her bag.

“Yeah, she’s really great.” Her friend turned to look at her. “I see you made some friends too. Judging by the way you and Malia were celebrating your victory.”

“I did. She’s nice. Intimidating, too.” She smiled. “She’s also a better drinking buddy than you.”

“I am a great drinking buddy! You’re the one who has an exceptional tolerance for alcohol.” Lydia rolled her eyes. “What about Stiles?”

“He’s nice too. I get why you chose him to blind date me.” Allison grinned, happy that her friend liked him. “But my main worry is Jackson.”

“I talked to Scott. If he tries anything with you or pick a fight with Stiles, he’ll kick him out.” She reassured Lydia, who just nodded.  “Plus, I’ll kill him. Maybe I can get Malia to help me. I bet she’d love to punch him.”

“Okay, let’s go down before you come up with a plan for his murder.” They walked back to the living room. The place looked bigger without all the furniture in the way. Instead, there were a lot of blankets and pillows on the floor. Stiles was sitting by the TV, looking at some DVDs covers.

“Sit with him. You two need to look like a couple, remember?”

“Right. Where are you going?” She asked when Allison didn’t follow her. The brunette pointed to the kitchen where Scott and Derek were talking. Lydia nodded and walked to Stiles, sitting by his side. “Do you know there’s something called Netflix now? It’s a place where you don’t need CD’s to put on a movie.”

“Oh wow. I can’t believe it.” He looked at her. “Are you sure such technology is available for us, common folks?”

“Yes, it is, grandpa.” She joked. “So what are our options?”

“Nothing good enough for a movie night, to be honest.” Lydia looked over the titles, examining them. “This would be easier if I was allowed to choose a movie.”

“Is that so?” She inquired. “What would you choose?”

“Star Wars, of course!” Lydia lifted her eyebrow. “What? It’s a masterpiece. There’s action, romance, comedy, drama… Why stick with one genre if you could have it all?”

“I can understand why you were banned from choosing the movie.”

“I never said banned.” Lydia glared at him. “Fine. Whatever.”

She scanned the titles once again, picking the best choices. “Okay, we're not going to watch a romance. Couples are going to kiss, singles are going to sleep and Isaac will murder you.” She put those aside. “Also, no comedy, it’s awkward to watch around people.” She took off most of the movies. “So, that leaves us with two horror movies and… Let me guess, Derek suggested this?” Lydia grabbed the documentary about WWII.

“Yeah, he’s trying to watch this for a month but no one lets him.” He picked the horror movies. “So it’s one of those. What do you say?”

“Friday the 13th, definitely. I love this movie”

“Aw, someone wants to be all snuggling with her boyfriend.” He teased with half of smile in his face.

“Actually if someone will be snuggling with someone, is Stiles. He’s the worst watching this kind of movies.” Scott said behind him. He carried the pizzas along with Allison and put it in the middle of the room so everyone could get it. They sat next to them. “When we were sixteen…”

“Okay, movie time!” Stiles yelled and everyone that hadn’t already been downstairs came down and sat in front of the TV. Scott rolled his eyes and put the movie on. Stiles turned the lights off and leaned back to his seat right next to Lydia, grabbing a slice of pizza. He looked at her as she chewed her pizza, focused on the TV. He then looked to his right and saw Jackson staring at them. His face showed how mad he was about his ex’s situation.

Lydia noticed how bothered Stiles was getting about Jackson. He seemed like he was going to call out her ex-boyfriend for it, so she quickly held his hand and squeezed it. She came closer to him, letting him put his arm around her. When he dropped a kiss on her forehead, Lydia couldn’t help but smile.

The strawberry blonde was surprisingly enjoying the closeness. Which was weird since she barely knew Stiles. Her eyes traveled the room and landed on Allison, who held a smirk on her lips. She could feel the ' _I told you so'_ face coming, so she turned her attention back to the TV.

As the movie progressed, Lydia realized how her partner had gotten really stiff. His face showed how uncomfortable he was, avoiding at all cost to look at the screen. She pretended to not notice when he glanced at her a few times. Lydia waited a few more minutes to see if his attention would come back to the screen but nothing. Stiles seemed more interested at looking around his house.  When he accidentally glanced at the TV, he quickly held Lydia’s hand, closing his eyes.

“Are you okay?” She whispered, moving her eyes to his face.

“Yeah… That was just… Impulse, I guess.” He let go of her hand, embarrassed. His face showed how not fine he was. Lydia grabbed his hands again and smiled fondly.

“You really don’t like horror movies, do you?” Stiles shook his head slowly, trying not to blush too much, but failing miserably. “Why didn’t you say so?”

Still not meeting her eyes, he answered. “You chose the movie. It’s not a big deal, really.” He assured her. “Plus, you were right about the other ones. This was the best choice.”

“We can do something else… Uh…” Her mind was blank. She couldn’t think of any activity besides watching the movie. Well, there was the making out routine couples did in the middle of movies — like Kira and Malia were doing —, but that was out of limits for Lydia. No matter how a great kisser he was. “Take a walk?”

“Really, it’s fine… It’s almost over and I can see you’re really enjoying the movie.” Stiles squeezed her hand. “Besides, it’s drizzling.”

“Hey lovebirds,” Isaac called them out, making both jump, surprised. “Shut up.”

“C’mon” Lydia stood up and pulled Stiles into the kitchen, biting her lip to not laugh on Isaac’s frustration. Stiles followed her and closed the kitchen door.

“You really didn’t have to do this.”

“It’s fine. I’ve watched this movie a thousand times.” She leaned in the sink, grabbing a beer and offering him one. “But why don't you like horror movies?”

“They’re scary” She stared him and he shrugged. “They are! I’m already a lousy sleeper. With those scenes in my mind, I will never sleep again.”

“The trick is to find the inaccuracies in the scenes. For example, in a movie where someone is run over by a car, there is no way a sane person would see the car come in their direction and stop, waiting for it to happen.”

“The scenes are pretty graphic though.” He pointed.

“Fake blood. Special effects.”

“Watching a movie with you pointing those things out must be a bless.”

“Oh, Allison loves it. She says it makes it all more interesting”

“Well, she’s your best friend, it’s not like she’s going to tell you to shut up and enjoy the art for the movie is.” He said. “I mean, every scene is a part of a director’s point of view of a reality. We should enjoy the message they’re trying to pass to the audience.”

Lydia smirked, impressed.

“My ex was a Visual Arts major. That was one of her monologues when I wouldn’t shut up while watching one of her favorite independent movies.”

“Nice.” Lydia put the beer aside. “Allison doesn’t let me talk during classics.” As it was her cue, the brunette entered the kitchen. Lydia smiled at her friend, seeing how tired she already was. She walked towards Lydia, resting her head on her shoulder. “How can you possibly be sleepy after that movie?”

“Without your commentaries, it’s not as entertaining.” Lydia sent Stiles a pointed look as he rolled his eyes. “I’m not the only one. Everyone is heading to bed. You and I are in Scott’s bedroom.”

“I thought you two were going to stay in his room.” When Allison didn’t say anything, Lydia realized why. “No, I’m not ruining your night with him. Go be sexy and… Maybe drink some coffee so you don’t fall asleep middle sex.

“But where will you sleep?”

“She’s sleeping with me, obviously, Allison,” Stiles said in an obvious tone. He pulled Lydia closer to him; almost making her trip, and kissed her cheek. Both of them were caught by surprise. “Like she always did.”

Fortunately, she got the grasp of the situation quickly, realizing that someone was also in the room. With the corner of her eye, she saw Jackson listening to their conversation.  She came closer to him, resting her head on his chest. She hated to admit it but it was a nice feeling.

“I'm not sure if we're going to actually sleep, honey.” Allison held a smile and winked at them wishing goodnight as she left the kitchen. She faced Stiles and smile as he leaned closer to her like he was going to kiss her. For a moment she thought he was.

“Let's move this upstairs shall we?” He whispered. Lydia blushed but nodded. Holding hands, they waltz upstairs to his room.

Stiles bedroom was different from Scott’s. It was considerably smaller and had no bathrooms, but splashed personality all over the place. The major part of the walls was covered with pieces of the paper regarding a missing little girl and pictures of people in the news. It looked like a murder board, minus the board part.

The other ones seemed more likely for a guy his age to decorate. Numerous posters of bands, mostly from All Time Low, and the Mets. It was also significantly cleaner than she thought it’d be. His bed was made, there wasn't any kind of garbage on the floor and even his desk was organized.

What caught her eyes were the amount of pictures of friends and family around the room. Most of them were with Scott, but the rest of the group also made an appearance or two.

Stiles closed the door behind him, looking apprehensive. His eyes traveled every part of the room, almost like he was making sure there was nothing embarrassing lying around. But Lydia could also feel how tense he was. They were alone in his bedroom.

“So… Sorry about the mess, I guess…” He cleared his throat. “I’ll just… Change my sheets and get some new pillows. I think Isaac has some extras in his room…”

“Stiles, it’s fine.” She sat on his bed, smiling nervously. “I realize how weird this is.”

“It’s not that. I mean, it is weird this situation, in particular, the thing is… I never actually had a girl in here.” He shook his head uneasy. “I mean, Malia and Kira are here all the time… Not that we had threesomes or anything like that. It’s just… I never… slept with a girl before.”

“ _Oh.”_ Her tone was surprised.

“No! That’s not what I meant!” He sighed. Watching him babbling was entertaining, she had to admit. “I _have_ slept with girls. And guys. Never together, which it'd be interesting, but… That’s not the point!”

“I get it. You don’t need to explain.” Her eyes wandered to his bedside table. The only thing on top of it was a portrait of Stiles’ family. His parents looked very much in love, hugging their son that proudly smiled at the camera showing his lack of front teeth. “You look adorable.”

He followed her gaze and smiled slightly. “Yeah, I guess I grew out of it.”

“Your mom is very pretty.” She looked at him. “You have her eyes.”

“Yeah…” His eyes didn’t leave the picture, face softening. Lydia slowly got up from his bed and headed for the door. “Where are you going?”

“My bag is in Scott’s room. I’ll be right back”

As she walked to the other side of the hall it occurred to her that they might already be asleep. But, taking her chances, she stopped right in front of his door and knocked lightly. There was no response. Pressing her ear against the door was a mistake. She could hear Allison's moans filled the room and Lydia stepped back a little, feeling like she had intruded in their private moment.

She returned to Stiles bedroom, noticing he had already put on his pajamas and was making the bed and she noticed how he had separated some things on the floor, making it clear that one of them would be sleeping in there. She cleared her throat and he looked at her.

“Where are your things?” Stiles asked noticing her empty hands.

“At Scott's bedroom.” Lydia sighed. “You know, where he and Allison are having sex right now.”

“Ah.” Lydia noticed a proud grin on his face. Stiles handed her some clothes from his wardrobe. “Here, you can wear this. I’ll go get some water so you can change.”

Lydia had to admit that was amusing seeing him so uneven from her presence in his room. When they were pretending to be a couple, Stiles had no problem about touching her, kissing her cheek or holding her hand. But once they were alone he clearly didn’t know how to act in her presence.

It’s not like she wasn’t doing the same thing – the situation _was_ awkward –, but at least she tried to break the ice and make the circumstance less uncomfortable. Even though they were flirting in the pool before Jackson showed up.

After changing into his clothes, Lydia took her time to observe his murder board – or better yet, murder _wall_ – trying to follow his line of thought. She remembered seeing that little girl’s face in the news multiple times for the last month. According to her family, she was most likely dead but the police continued to investigate her missing.

Stiles knocked on the door and she told him he could get in.

“What are you…?”

“I’m a criminal law student.” He explained quickly, seeing her pointing to his wall. “My dad is the sheriff back home, so it was sort of a giving. He’s investigating her missing and he’s updating me about it so I can try to help.” Stiles chuckled. “This is something Scott and I used to do. Listening to my dad’s radio and try to solve the cases ourselves. We used to get into so much trouble.”

“Oh, your mom sure loved that.” Her eyes met his at the exact time his smile left his face. She recognized that face anywhere. It was the same one Allison had when someone mentioned her mother. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. She’s been gone for a long time now. Plus, you didn’t know.” He added. Stiles turned his back to the wall and cleared his throat. “Uh… Where is the stuff I left on the floor?”

“I put it away. We’re sharing the bed.”

“But…”

“Unless you have a problem with sleeping in the same bed as me.”

“What? No!”

“Great.” She lay on her side of the bed and waited for him to join her. “Goodnight, Stiles.”

“Goodnight.”

 

* * *

 

 

When she woke up the next morning, she was alone.

It took her a moment to figure it out where she was and why she wasn’t wearing her own clothes. But everything came back to her in a flash. Jackson was there. She’s fake dating Stiles. And like that wasn’t enough, the headache she was having seemed like a consequence of the previous night actions.

What a way to start her morning.

After doing her morning routine, Lydia went straight to the kitchen, in desperate need of a strong cup of coffee. The kitchen wasn’t that full, mostly of the people probably still asleep.

The first person to acknowledge her presence was Isaac, who was leaned in the balcony waiting for his toasts to be ready. He sent her a half smile and Lydia can’t help but notice how he didn’t look the slightest hungover. Malia stood next to him talking to a black woman she didn’t remember being there the night before and Derek in the back, reading a paper. As she cooked, Malia finished her bottle of water and looked at Lydia, smiling brightly.

“Good morning!” Lydia couldn’t help to wince when she spoke up so loud. Noticing it, she smiled apologetically. “Sorry. Hangover?”

“Yeah. And confused on how you and Isaac seem just fine.”

“They don’t get hungover. It’s infuriating.” The black woman said. “I’m Braeden, by the way.”

“Lydia. Nice to meet you.” She turned to Malia once again. “How can you possibly not get a hangover? You drank more than me and my head is exploding.”

“I don’t know. We never did.” Isaac nodded. “Don’t you have some sort of food or anything to help with it?”

“I do, strawberries. And coffee. Lots of coffee.” She sat at the table, reaching for the coffee pot. “Where is everyone? Still sleeping?”

“Not everybody. Isaac and I woke up early to run and we found Braeden lost on her way here. But when we came back, Stiles, Scott and Allison were leaving the house.”

Lydia found that weird. That didn’t sound like Allison. Knowing her best friend as well as she did, the most likely situation for her to be in was asleep. She was never a morning person and the fact that she woke up before Lydia and left the house for whatever reason was a surprise. She didn’t say anything to Malia, instead choosing to occupy her mouth with the bitter taste of her coffee and wait for her head to stop hurting.

But since the universe hadn’t cooperated with her for a while, the next person to cross the kitchen threshold was Jackson. Lydia swore he was waiting for the worst moment to approach her. Sitting next to her, the man didn’t even bother to greet the other people in the room. His focus was on Lydia.

“Hello, Lydia.”

“Hi.” She was determined to ignore him until she could go back to her place the next day, but he didn’t seem to take the hint, still staring at her.

“I want to talk to you.”

“Well, I want a custom-made Prada bag, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon, so…” Malia snorted next to her and Lydia couldn’t help but feel confident in her confrontation abilities towards Jackson. A few months ago, every time he needed something, she was ready to give to him. Her love. Her time. Herself.

He didn’t have time to answer her once the front door busted open with Allison and the boys laughing at something. Allison’s face lighten up when she noted Lydia’s presence, but soon her smile disappeared once she noticed who was sitting next to her. The brunette soon put her bags on the counter, next to Isaac, and stood in front of her friend’s ex-boyfriend.

“Move.”

“I’m eating my breakfast with Lydia.” Jackson didn’t even bother looking at her. “Go sit somewhere else.”

“She said move.” This time, it was Stiles in front of him. “Go eat breakfast with your girlfriend and leave mine alone.”

With Stiles and Scott staring at him, Jackson slowly stood up and went towards the fridge, leaving the chair free. Allison quickly took his place, smiling satisfied.

“Where did you guys went?” Lydia asked like nothing had happened.

“To buy your hangover food, obviously,” Stiles answered putting a box of fresh strawberries in front of her. He placed a kiss on her forehead. “Those two came with me to make out in the back seat of my jeep.”

“You were the one who didn’t want to buy us anything.” Allison fired back taking a couple of Lydia’s strawberries. “We had to entertain ourselves somehow.”

“Yeah, like last night wasn’t enough,” Lydia mumbled making Allison blush. She turned to Stiles and smiled thankfully. “Thank you, honey.”

“Ugh, enough of you four,” Malia whined, rolling her eyes. “What are we going to do today? I refuse to stay inside again and witness you guys making love faces all day.”

“You should wake up Kira and do the same” Scott suggested kissing her cheek. “Then you’d be participating in it.”

“Yes, but _outside_.”

Braeden and Derek joined them at the table, serving the rest of the food. The group started to discuss the plans for the day, with the exception of Jackson who continued to stare at Lydia from a distance, but she didn’t focus much on him.

She observed the dynamic of the people surrounding her. It was fun to be a part of such a caring and diverse group like this. Everyone seemed to have their place and to fit in very well with the others. She could tell that people looked up to Scott as the leader of the group and how much he cared about them and listened to what everyone had to say. Even Derek, who was the oldest, shared a great respect for him. Malia shared whatever came on her mind, making funny remarks, Kira was the eye of the hurricane, calm and the ray of sunshine of the room. All of them had an exceptional characteristic that differ from the group and Lydia was glad she was in such a positive environment.

But her eyes were mostly on Stiles. Even though he was the quietest in the room — which was a surprise since so far he was the most talkative in there — his presence radiated in the room. Noticing her eyes on him, Stiles smiled and winked playfully before drinking his juice and nodding to something Scott had said.

She didn’t know if it was because they weren’t alone, but Lydia felt like the awkwardness of the day before was gone. Stiles seemed to be acting like himself, not like a fake boyfriend. It felt nice to be treated kindly by someone other than her best friend.

Before she could return her attention to the conversation, the group had decided to have a picnic with the leftovers from the party to their place by the woods. They divided some tasks for each of them to do before they go and planned their activities for the day, which it included soccer.

For not listening to the conversation, Lydia got stuck with the dishes while the rest of them went off to gather the stuff for the picnic. Fortunately, Allison joined her.

“So, how was your night?” Allison looked at her with her brows arched.

“What part of it?” Lydia rested her hand on her chin. “The part where you locked yourself and Scott in his room with my bag in there? Perhaps the part where I had to listen to your moans in the middle of the night when I went to the bathroom.” The brunette blushed, not meeting her eyes. “Because it was an interesting night, to be honest.”

“You know what I meant.”

“It was fine. Amazingly awkward, but nice.” She returned her attention to the dishes, putting them in the cabinet. “He said he never had a girl in there.” Without even glancing at her friend, Lydia knew that her eyes were popping open. “Also, we shared the bed.”

“ _Oh_ , are we inviting people to join us in bed?” She teased, clearly enjoying where the conversation lead.

“Stop it. You know I’m not looking for a relationship right now or anything at all.” She declared facing her. Allison’s smile faded and she took a deep breath. “I know you’ve been setting me up so I can forget about Jackson, but it’s not easy. We dated since high school. I can’t just… Forget everything.”

“I’m not asking you to forget, Lydia. I’m asking you to get out there, have some fun and not mope around because of that dickhead.” She cupped her face gently. “You are Lydia Martin. You are double majoring, you are hot and amazing. _You deserve better_.”

Lydia truly didn’t know what she did to get such an amazing friend as Allison. She stayed quiet, taking her words in. Jackson took such a big part of her that it took a long time to realize it was missing. And even now, when he was no longer in her life, she discovered how incomplete she was, like a missing piece of a complicated puzzle.

“When did you get so much smarter than me?”

“Oh, well… I know you since forever; I guess some of it rubbed off on me.” Allison joked.

She genuinely was glad she had Allison in her life.

 

* * *

 

 

The picnic took place on the field behind the house, a few miles into the forest that surrounded the house. Lydia was surprised seeing such an extensive area, all taken care of. It looked like it was brand new, with the grass millimetrically cut, the smell of the trees to similar of what it’d be if they were in an actual forest in the middle of nowhere. There were a few tables next to a shed on one of the corners of the field, where apparently the food was going to be.

“This place is amazing.” Allison took her sunglasses off and looked around. “Does the university know about this area?”

“Nah. It’s Derek’s property and where we host the best party of the year.” Stiles answered taking the coolers from the jeep. “Most people know about it, but no one says anything about it. If they found out, there’s no more party.”

“Derek owns the house _and_ this area?”

“Yup.” Scott turned to her and kissed her cheek. “It’s been in his family forever so the university is not allowed to do anything with it without his permission. And you know Derek. It’s not like he’s opened about everything.”

As the couple walked to one of the nearest tables, Lydia took one side of the cooler Stiles had previously removed from the jeep and looked at him. Closing the door, he quickly joined her, going to the next table.

“So… How are you?” Stiles asked sitting in one of the benches. “You didn’t speak much since breakfast.”

“I’m fine, it’s the hangover.” Lydia didn’t meet his eyes, instead, paying attention to her nails. “Thank you for the strawberries, though. That was very thoughtful.”

“Allison mentioned you could really use some.” Stiles shrugged. “She also talked to me before we came here.”

 _Oh no,_ she thought, looking at him.

“Oh…” Stiles scratched his neck.

“I know last night was kind of… Awkward, but it’s not because of you.” He explained. “It’s not that I don’t enjoy your company because _I do_! It’s just that… After spending the day pretending to be your boyfriend, when we’re alone, I’m not sure what to do.”

“Me neither.” Stiles relaxed a little. “But I try to act like we did before we kissed in the pool. We were having a good time.”

“Yeah…” The sound of the cars made him stop talking, turning around to see who was arriving. He looked back at her and smiled. “Anyway… We’ll work on it, right?”

“Right.” She agreed.

It was the middle of the afternoon when the boys decided it was game time. Lydia was sitting next to Malia and Kira, who wasn’t happy that the boys didn’t let her participate in the game. Malia promised her that they were going to revenge her, but was visibly glad to spend more time with her girlfriend on her lap.

So far things had gone well regarding Jackson’s attitude. For once since he arrived, he wasn’t looking at her or confronting Stiles, but having a good time talking to Danny, which gave her some time to get to know the girls better.

The teams were formed. Scott, Stiles, and Isaac against Derek, Danny, and Jackson. If Lydia was being honest, it didn’t seem like a fair game. Knowing Danny and Jackson all her life, their sports abilities were pretty clear. Also, Derek was a fit guy who looked like he could kill any one of them with just a blink of an eye. The other team didn’t have a chance.

Scott and Isaac had the physique for a sports player, but not what Lydia would call the perfect match for the other team. And then there was Stiles.

He had some muscles, but the fact that he was the skinniest of the group didn’t make her confident that he was as good. He also seemed nervous, sending some glances for the other team while talking to Scott.

“Why is he so nervous?” Lydia asked Malia. “I mean, he plays, right? I slept in his jersey last night.”

 **“** He used to play lacrosse in high school, that’s the jersey you were on.” She grabbed some grapes and fed them to Kira. “But he sucks at it, lacrosse and soccer. Sports in general, actually.”

“Great. Then he’s about to get murdered by the other team.”

When the game started, the girls sat together to watch them play. Malia and Allison placed a bet on what team would win, with Malia confident that any team that Stiles was a part of was a dead end. She didn’t say it to be mean, it was just her way of stating a fact, Kira guaranteed Lydia.

She was surprised that Stiles wasn’t that bad. So far, it was a balanced game, once Derek wasn’t much of a player himself. Braeden told her that his sport was basketball, but for being tall and muscular, it was easy to intimidate the other players – even if they were his friends.

Malia was the most enthusiastic of all of them. It was clear she had little to no knowledge about sports, but every chance she got she screamed at them, at the same time assuring Kira that if she was the one playing, that stupid mistake wouldn’t happen.

What worried Lydia the most was the way Jackson was playing. It was almost like he didn’t know what an amicable game meant, putting all his strength on his body when he bumped into the other team’s player – focusing especially on Stiles. Speaking of him, it was painful watching him. Out of breath, he was the one sweating the most and barely moving to get the ball. It didn’t take long until Jackson bumped into him, making him fall and hit his head.

“Oh my God, is he okay?” Allison mumbled. Scott ran to him with a concerned look. Even though everything seemed to be fine, Lydia marched to Stiles side.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” She examined his head. “You hit your head really hard.”

“I’m fine… I’m just a little dizzy.” He closed his eyes but opened quickly as soon as Lydia pinched him. “Hey!”

“Don’t close your eyes. If you fall asleep and there’s something wrong, I won’t know and you might not wake up.” Allison came to her side with a bottle of water and Lydia held Stiles head gently so he could drink it. Jackson approached them a few seconds later, grinning.

“Why is this taking so long?” He complained, clearly not caring about Stiles.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Lydia stood up and faced him. “What the hell is wrong with you? This is a friendly game, not a place for you to take your stupid vendetta.”

“As you know very well, when I play, I do it for real.” He took a step in Lydia’s direction. “If that dork that you insist on calling a boyfriend can’t handle that, there’s nothing I can do.”

Before she could do anything, she felt Scott’s hands on her shoulders, pulling her back and pointing at Stiles. She sighed but stayed next to her fake boyfriend while Derek and Scott went to talk to Jackson.

Lydia hoped they were going to make him go away.

Stiles was now sitting by himself, finishing the bottle of water Allison handed him. Isaac and Danny helped him to get up, taking him to one of the tables where he could get some food.

 

Lydia stayed with him the rest of the afternoon, making sure he was fine. They kept talking until the night came and the wind made her body shiver. Looking around, she noticed that no one was making an effort to pack up and go back to the house. In fact, Braeden and Malia were bringing some wood off the back of one of the cars while the guys set up the tents.

“What are they doing?” She asked looking at the girls.

“I believe they’re making a fire.”

“Wow, thank you for stating the obvious.” Lydia rolled her eyes. “I meant, why are they making a fire? Or setting up tents?”

“Uh… That’s what people do when they go camping?”

“ _What?”_

“Camping. The act of, you know, sleep outside, in the wilderness.”  He gestures to the trees. “Although we’re not actually in the wilderness since every month Derek pays a guy to take care of this place. But what’s the _real_ definition of wilderness? You see...” He started to digress.

“Stiles! That’s not the point. Why didn’t you say anything about camping?”

“Lydia, we agreed on camping at breakfast.” Her face was blank. “You were there! Malia wanted to go out, we decided to camp and then Isaac suggested us to play soccer…”

Lydia blinked. She was so focused on observing Stiles and the dynamic of the pack that she didn’t actually pay attention to what had been discussed at the table.

“I guess I was too distracted… Well, I don’t have any clothes to wear. Again.”

“I brought some extra, you can have them.” He got up and offered his hand, which she took it reluctantly. “They might be too big on you.”

“Last night’s clothes were big on me.” She recalled.

“Yes, but they are small on me. The one I have right now is the perfect fit, so it’ll be gigantic on you.”

Lydia tried not to smile, but just looking at his face and the stupid grin he had on his lips made her relax a little. Allison was near the jeep going through her backpack when they approached.

“Do you have any extra socks?” She asked Lydia, frowning.

“I don't even have clothes. I'm borrowing Stiles’.” Stiles grabbed his bag and handed to her. “Thank you”

“Don't worry about it. I'll go help Scott.” He said walking back to where his friends were.

“Why didn't you bring clothes?”

“I didn't pay attention when it was mentioned we were going to camp here.” Lydia answered putting one of his sweaters. Stiles was right. His clothes were way too big on her but she didn’t mind. In fact, it smelled nice and it kept the wind away, so that was a win. “So I guess I’m in the same tent as Stiles then.”

“Don’t say it like it’s a nightmare. You two have great chemistry.” Lydia rolled her eyes. “I’m serious. If I were you, I’d make Stiles put the tent far away from the other just in case you make some noise at night.” She teased.

“My tent will be miles away from yours, that’s for sure.” She fired back while Allison made her way back.

As soon as she was comfortable in his clothes, Lydia let herself sit a little longer inside the jeep as she observed the group far away. She had really enjoyed their company and was glad Allison was fitting in so well among them. It was like she was already a member of the group for a long time.

It was hard seeing her best friend being surrounded by them. Allison was the one person Lydia could count on, the only consistency in her life. It had been just the two of them for such a long time that Lydia wasn’t sure she was ready to let go.

Jackson broke her in so many ways for so long that just the thought of being alone made her want to cry.

Jackson.

Thinking of him made her realize how tired she was. Tired of, once again, pretend to be someone else because of him. Being in a fake relationship with Stiles wasn’t all bad, but it bothered her to no end that after all those years, Jackson could still make her feel the need to lie and pretend.

“One more night, Lydia.” She muttered. “You can do it.”

 

It didn’t matter that her head still was hurting a little from the hangover, alcohol was always welcomed. It was the perfect solution for her to momentarily forget about her problems.

She was one of the only ones drinking. Most of them didn’t feel like it, so just Derek and Malia joined her. Unlike in the pool party, they weren’t separated into groups, instead choosing to sit in a circle around the fire with blankets around their shoulders, some talking but most of them listening to Scott play his guitar.

At first, she thought the group was going to join him and sing along, but they were mostly admiring Scott’s performance. Allison’s eyes never left his and Lydia was sure that neither of them could be more smitten.

A sad smile appeared on her face. Allison loved and was loved. Her best friend didn’t deserve anything less than that.

“You look sad,” Stiles said sitting next to her and joining her under the blanket, taking a sip of his water. Lydia had banned alcohol for him, despite his protests, still worried about his fall might have caused a concussion.

‘I’m fine.”

“You keep saying that, but your eyes tell a different story.” He looked worried but Lydia was inebriated enough to not care. They stayed in silence for a while before she faced him.

“What made your girlfriend break up with you?” The question took Stiles by surprised, who blinked a few times before fully taking it in.

“Uh… Well, she said she wasn’t in love with me anymore.” He shrugged. “I know her since we were babies. Our mothers were close friends and before Scott showed up, she was my best friend.”

“So she was also your high school sweetheart?”

“Not exactly. We got together a year ago and it was nice. Familiar.” Lydia examined his face. He didn’t look sad, but nostalgic. “But there was no spark. We were more like best friends who acted like a couple and she realized that before me.”

“Oh.”

“It doesn’t mean I wasn’t sad. I was heartbroken.” He looked at her and smiled. “Isaac stopped being a dickhead for like… Two days. It was a huge deal.”

“Why would you agree to go on a date with a complete stranger and wait for her in the rain?” She asked abruptly.

“Before you ask, I wasn’t desperate or anything like that. I hate blind dates just like the next one.” The temperature was getting colder, making some of their friends wish goodnight and go to their tents. “I only went because it was Scott’s girlfriend’s best friend and he couldn’t let her down that soon on the relationship.” He joked.

“What about the rain?” She frowned. “I mean, that’s just sad.”

“Honestly? I thought you were running late and it would be rude to not be there when you arrived. “

“For two hours?”

“Yeah, that part was sad.” Most of the people had gone to their tents, leaving the two of them alone with a weak bonfire. “But how come you didn’t show up?”

“Allison kept arranging dates with random people since Jackson and I broke up and almost exclusively all of them were boring or an ass.” She was staring at the fire as the wind slowly put it out. She shivered. “In the beginning, I went and slept with a few so I had something to do, but it got boring… When Scott kept setting me up with some of his friends, it was too much. I’d be too weird.”

“Unlike kissing someone you just met at a pool party.”

“Exactly.”

There was something about a clean sky at night. Lydia particularly liked those, without no clouds or stars, showing how big the universe really was, making it clear that no star or planet or anything that was out there put an end to the vastitude of the universe. Because in this universe, Lydia Martin is sitting next to this boy, pretending to be in a fake relationship to prove something to her ex-boyfriend.

But in another universe, she’d be solving any problems she had with simple logic. Everything would be clean and efficient. No place for heartbreaks, lies, and manipulation. The sky would still be clear and she’d not be in this situation with Stiles.

“Are you cold?”

“A little.” She replied grabbing one more beer. “Nothing like a drink can't solve it though.”

“Or, a blanket.” Stiles reached for their tent and put another one on her back. “I think you had enough beers for tonight.”

“You sound just like my father” The tone in her voice was bitter. “Always telling me what to do, how to act…”

“Isn't that a parent's job? I mean, I remember my dad bothering me to no end to sit quietly in school or like… In general. Of course, that was when no one knew I had ADHD, but…”

“That's not the same.” She interrupted. “A parent's job is to love their child and care for them no matter what.” She drank a long sip of her beer like she was defying him. “My father lost that privilege when he left and started a new family, acting like he didn't have one already.”

Stiles looked at her. The sadness in her eyes was now replaced by anger. He understood now why she changed her posture yesterday when they were in the pool.

“I'm sorry about that. But hey… You still got your mom right?” He tried to change her mood.

This time, she looked at him.

“Oh yeah. I'm so glad I _still_ had my mom to not stop talking about it when I was growing up. How great we were without him, even though we were not. Acting like having my custody in the divorce was something that she wanted, but actually just a prize to be won over him.” She looked at him and noticed how his expression had softened by seeing how fragile she was. Lydia didn’t know exactly why she was sharing all this with him, but it didn’t bother her too much. Normally, Allison would be in his place and she’d know exactly what to say or do to make her feel better. And Stiles didn’t know anything about her personal life. But just seeing his face sympathize with her, seeing how he didn’t mind listening to her – traits that never was on her relationship with Jackson – made her continue to talk. “It’s bad enough having a parent walking away from you. But having two who doesn’t want you, it’s almost unbearable.”

He touched her hand, slightly smiling at her and looking into her eyes. She didn’t move appreciating the comfort he was trying to give her. Lydia wondered if she wasn’t drunk she’d still act the same.

“They’re crazy to not want you.” He said softly. “Anyone who doesn’t see how great you are… They’re not worthy of your company.”

And then she knew. She talking, sharing and liking how he comforted her wasn’t due to the alcohol in her system. It was purely Stiles.

Closing the space between them was the only right response her mind thought of. His lips stayed still for a second, but soon enough they were moving delicately. It was different from the kiss they shared on the pool the day before. It wasn’t pretending, it wasn’t to someone else.

This one was for them.

His lips were warm against hers, moving slowly like even the sudden change on their pace would break the spell they were both in. His hands were buried on her curls as he pulled her closer to him. Even though she was trying to, Lydia couldn’t find one single word to describe the feeling of having his lips on hers. Every move they made, every breath they took… That was something new and exciting and breathtaking.

It was perfect.

When he pulled away from her, Lydia groaned, opening her eyes. It was over way too quickly in her opinion.

“Lydia… I don’t think this is a good idea. You’re drunk.”

“I’m not kissing you because I’m drunk.” He raised his brows, still not sure what to believe. “I want to kiss you.” She said leaning closer to him. His eyes quickly followed her mouth as she whispered close to his lips. “I want _you_.”

This time, Stiles was the one who kissed her. Unlike the previous kiss, this one was energetic and with desire. His hands ended up on her hips, under her sweater, and just the thought of what those long bony fingers could do to her, made her groan into his lips.

It was like they weren't in the wild open anymore. Lydia could barely feel the cold wind against her cheeks, only a warm feeling building inside of her and the need to take off every layer that separated her body from Stiles’.

Like he was reading her mind, Stiles separated once again from her and mumbled: “I think we should get inside the tent.”

“That's a good idea.”

Not wanting to break the contact, he grabbed her hand and walked towards their tent, barely having time to close it completely before her lips were smashed against his.

For some time, the act of kissing was just enough for them, moving their lips slowly, tasting every bit of each other’s mouth, breathing in that moment. Stiles touching her face gently, Lydia biting his lower lip, her chest against his as he laid on top of her and pressed a chaste kiss on her neck.

That when it all changed.

Stiles continued to focus on her neck, tracing slow hot kisses down to her collarbone and then up until her chin. It was simple but every time his tongue touched her skin, Lydia's breathing became sharper and it was like every inch of her body was on fire.

But she needed more.

She grabbed the hem of her sweater and pulled it out all at once and Stiles followed her lead. When his eyes dropped to the pink bra contrasting her pale skin, a mix of lust and adoration appeared on his face. He wanted to touch her, she noticed, but he didn't know where to start.

A groan came from the back of her throat when he licked his lips. His eyes met hers, asking for permission, and she nodded in consent.

When their mouths crashed against each other one more time, Stiles' hands were _everywhere_. Her hair, her neck, her face, her bra. It seemed like he didn't know what to do, that the situation too overwhelmed for him. It was clear that he wanted her, but he wasn’t sure how.

“Stiles…” He looked at her and he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. His hair pointing everywhere, his lips swollen and the lust in his eyes. His beautiful whiskey eyes were darker than usual and that look was what made her want him more. “You can take your time. I'm not going _anywhere_.”

He nodded taking a deep breath.

“Sorry, it's just… You're so beautiful.”

He took a moment to make his breath even and slowly leaned his head down to meet her breasts with his lips. He took his time, getting to know them, kissing every inch of it before taking a nipple into his mouth and sucking it. With that action, her mind went blank for a second, as she tried to contain a moan. Lydia was already turned on by his kisses but when he started to lick and suck on one while gliding the other, the sensitiveness of her breasts was too much. A soft breathy moan decided to escape from her lips.

Lydia’s hands rested on his head, pressing it closer to her as she arched her back in a desperate need of _more._

Her breathing was growing uneven and before she knew it, his hands were on her pants, sliding it down. That was when she decided to take it over, sliding her hand to his crotch slowly, inside his pants but on top of his underwear, groping his member. She could feel the hardness between his legs and took no time for her to slide her hand up and down lazily.

Stiles breath was caught in his throat.

She didn’t expect him to be that hard for her but knowing how much power she had over him, turned Lydia on more that she expected to. She wasn't even properly touching him but his face showed how much pleasure he was in. His eyes were closed and his cheeks blushed and Lydia wanted to truly touch him, taste him, fuck him.

When she stopped moving and helped him take his pants off, she was completely aware that the only thing separating them to fuck was two layers of clothing: her panties and his underwear.

He kissed her one more time, taking it over where he left off. His hand cupped her pussy hard, receiving a whimper from the sudden act. He groaned biting her lower lip, fingers rubbing gently on her clit for a while, watching as every breathy moan came out of her mouth.

“God, you're so hot and wet.” Stiles' voice was deeper and huskier, as he moved her panties to the side and slid one finger inside her.

One of his long, bony fingers.

Stiles moved too slowly for Lydia’s taste, rubbing her clit, moving in and out a few times before adding another finger. He was being sloppy, with uneven movements as his mouth was back on her nipples, licking them gently, even though she pushed his face closer to her chest.

Lydia could feel the start of her orgasm building up, but what he was doing wasn’t nearly enough to reach her goal. She needed more. Lydia wanted him to go faster, harder until she cried out her relief. Sensing how close she was getting, he removed his fingers from her, kissing the way down from her breasts.

She stopped him before he could get to his destination.

“Stiles, you have no idea how much I’d love to have you between my thighs.” She pulled him closer to her face. “I saw your tongue and every time you lick your lips, I feel like I might burst into flames. But right now, I need you inside of me.”

“I don’t have a condom.” Stiles closed his eyes, resting his forehead on her shoulder. “ _Fuck_ , I can’t believe I don’t have a condom.”

She didn’t say anything for a while. Lydia had strict rules about this and she never broke them. Not ever for Jackson. But she didn’t want to stop. And, for the look on his eyes, neither did Stiles.

“You won’t need it. I want to feel you, _all_ of you.” He looked at her, incredulous.

“Are you sure about this? All of it?” And there he was again. Asking for consent. Asking if she was fine with it. Making sure she didn’t want to do something she wasn’t comfortable with. Stiles couldn’t possibly surprise her more. “If you don’t want to do this… We can stop.”

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m on birth control.” Lydia guaranteed. “Don’t stop.”

With a final kiss, he adjusted himself between her legs before slowly pushing into her. Both of them groaned, staying still for a few seconds before Stiles started to move on top of her, stroking lazily.

“You’re so good…. _So_ good, Lydia.” He mumbled in her ears. “God, I want to fuck you all night, would you like that?” She moaned in response, receiving a bite on her neck. “You need to be silent, remember? Can you be quiet?” She nodded. “Good.”

The air smelled like their sweat bodies slamming against each other. It was dirty, messy and lustful. Lydia loved the desired in his eyes as he watched her breasts bounce for every move he made inside of her. Just by his expression, on how much he wanted her, a loud moan came out of her mouth, following by her hand to cover the noise. He laid on top of her, mumbling on her ear everything he wanted to do with her, how beautiful she was and how good she felt. Lydia’s body craved for more of him. She needed him touching her in every way possible.

Her nails dug into his asscheeks as Stiles picked up his pace. He growled, starting to play with her nipples once more, but this time wasn’t for teasing. He was giving her every sensation she could ask for. The feeling was _amazing_ , her orgasm building up slowly, as her breath got sharper with every thrust.

“ _Yes_ , oh… Right there.” She closed her eyes, trying to keep her moans into a minimum vocal range. She was _so_ close. Her body started to tremble, feeling her orgasm building up inside of her and Stiles could sense it too, working harder and faster into her.

Lydia comes with Stiles looking into her eyes. It’s the most intimate thing that she had ever experienced and it’s new. It’s _wonderful_. And a few thrusts later, it’s Stiles turn to see the stars.

 

* * *

 

 

Normally, Lydia was an early bird, always being the first one up and ready before Allison could even think about waking up. She took pride in that fact but that particular morning was one she didn’t want to wake up to. After the previous night’s events, the strawberry blonde wanted more than ever to stay in her current situation: comfortable and satisfied.

Nevertheless, that wasn't how the world worked. Lydia woke up that morning feeling hot, a consequence of the sunbathing on her tent, but nothing took away the delicious feeling that rested between her legs. If she could get a little more friction down there, she was sure she could start her morning in an exceptionally good mood.

But she couldn’t move. Not for choice, even though she wouldn't mind staying like that, but because she was embraced by Stiles’ arms. She pondered for a moment if what they’d done was a mistake. The plan was never to sleep with Stiles but that happened and she couldn't lie to herself and say that she didn't want it to. Lydia was the one who started it.

Stiles moved behind her, waking up as well. He pulled her closer to him and buried his face in her hair.

“Good morning” he mumbled, dropping a kiss on her shoulder. “This is nice…”

“Yeah…” He tensed behind her.

“Is this… okay?” She turned to face him. “Because last night was…”

“Last night was amazing.” He relaxed and touched her face, stroking his thumb on her cheek.  She admired his sleepy face for a while, deciding that she wanted to kiss him just for being adorable when he woke up. Her nose touched his nose and she planted a chaste kiss on his lips like it was proof of what she had said. She then looked down to his hard member pressed against her stomach. “ _Oh_ ”

“Sorry.” Stiles was blushing, but Lydia didn’t want for him to be embarrassed by anything they done. She approached his lips once more, but instead of a peck, she kissed him fervently.

They kept kissing for a while, her hands traveling his body, teasing to the point to touch the tip of her fingers on the side of his shaft. He groaned into her mouth, pulling her closer, searching for more contact with her body.

Lydia could already feel her desire building up and ready to pull herself to be on top of him for more action, but a sudden noise outside of the tent made them stop quickly. They stayed in silence for a few seconds before realizing no one saw them. She took a deep breath and looked at him.

“I don’t think we should start something we can’t finish.” He moves his fingers to her face, pulling a lock of hair behind her ear. The noise outside the tent was getting louder, indicating that the group was waking up and soon enough it’d be their time to join the rest of their friends.

“Yeah.”

Lydia knew that even though she wanted to be like that for the rest of the day, none of the people outside knew what happened. For them, that was just pretending because of Jackson. But she’s not so sure anymore.

When they left the tent a few minutes after, it was clear that was an unspoken rule about not sharing what happened between them with anyone else.

As the morning progressed, the rest of the group joined them at breakfast on one of the tables. No one seemed to know that the couple — or anyone for that matter — had had sex, which was a relief for Lydia.

That didn't mean Allison wasn't aware of her mood change. Or how Stiles and Lydia seemed closer than before.

 

 

As soon as Lydia stepped out of the bathroom, Allison cornered her with a sly smile on her face. They had gone back to the house, all of them desperate for a shower and a comfortable place to get some decent sleep. With the exception of Malia, Isaac, Derek and Scott, everyone else seemed to hate the experience of camping and sleeping on such a hard and uncomfortable surface as the floor. Lydia and Stiles, for obvious reasons, didn’t have the same problem but also voiced some complaints just to keep under everyone’s suspicious eyes.

“Why are you so happy today?” Allison went straight to the point. She wasn’t known for being very subtle, something her best friend hated.

“What are you talking about?” Luckily, playing dumb was one of Lydia’s specialties. She only hoped that it’d deceive someone who knew her too well.

“Oh, c’mon Lydia. You’re smiling and in a good mood.” She raised her brows, waiting for something more. “Don’t forget I know you like the back of my hand.”

“I don’t think nature suits you well. Let me explain you something… Sometimes, a person just is in a good mood. It happens all the time. Like the other day, when you woke up smiling for no reason at all.”

“But this is me, a smiley person, a positive person. You’re a realistic one.” She pointed it out. “You are only happy if something or _someone_ gives you a reason to.”

“If you’re implying that nature made me happy, you honestly don’t know me at all.”

Her smile got bigger.

“I heard moans.”

Lydia tried her best to not react to that information. She truly believed she had been quiet or, at least, not that loud. The tents were positioned quite far away from each other, so the fact that Allison heard her, meant she was wrong. And if Lydia was wrong, it also meant that someone else might have heard them too.

“Okay…”

“I am your roommate. It’s not the first time I heard you moan.”

“What?!” She asked with her most offended voice. “You think it was me? That I slept with Stiles? On a tent? In a field? With all of you just right next to us?”

“Yes,” Allison answered confidently.

 _Fuck_ , Lydia thought, still not breaking her act.

“You realize that all the couples shared a tent, right? Malia and Kira, Braeden and Derek, you and Scott…” The smile on Allison’s face hadn’t disappeared yet, worrying Lydia. “Why are you so sure it’s me?”

“Like I said, it wasn’t the first time I heard you moan.” This time, Lydia’s cheeks blushed a little. “Also, and this is important, I might have woken up very early to pee and went to your tent, you know, to see how you two were and saw two naked bodies cuddling.”

“Oh my god, you saw us?”

And then Lydia realized she made a mistake. When Allison’s smile became wider and a glim appeared on her eyes, Lydia knew she had fucked up. Closing her eyes, defeated, all the strawberry blond could do was to open up about it with her best friend.

She hated Allison sometimes.

“I knew it!” Even though she wasn’t happy about her friend finding out what had happened between her and Stiles, Lydia loved seeing Allison as excited as a kid who gained their first puppy. “So I guess you took my advice after all.” Lydia rolled her eyes. “How was it? I mean, not like your noises didn’t it make it obvious enough…”

“Sh! Be quiet, I don’t want everyone to find out.” She pulled her into the bathroom and closed the door. “It was… Hot. Like, really hot. I was turned on just for kissing.”

“You go, Stiles! But what does this mean? You two having sex, I mean.”

“I don't know…” They stayed in silence for a moment. “That wasn't the plan. To sleep with him. I don’t know where to go from there.”

“We’ll be leaving today, so you don’t have to worry about this right now.” She reassured Lydia with a smile. “Now, don’t think I won’t be asking a full report about what happened last night. I want details. Steamy details that’ll make me blush.”

“You should also know it also almost happened this morning, then.”

“ _Oh my God,_ Lydia!”

“But liked you said, we’ll talk _later_.” Allison groaned. “Just go take your shower.”

Stiles’ room wasn’t empty when she got in. Scott and Stiles were sitting on his bed, talking in a hush and stopping immediately as soon as they realize they’re not alone. Stiles went bright red and Scott just offered a simple smile. Lydia knew what they were talking about just by the look on Stiles’ face.  She didn’t mind him sharing the events of last night to his best friend — hell, she just did the same with hers — but that meant she’d have to talk to him about it and figure it out what it meant. The three of them just kept staring at each other for a few seconds, before Lydia takes a step back.

“Uh, sorry. I just came by to grab my hairbrush… I can come back later…”

“No, that’s not necessary… I was just telling Stiles something.”

“Yeah, he finally told Allison he loved her.” Scott glared at him. “What? You did!”

“Maybe Allison would like to break the news to her best friend, rather than you?”

“It’s fine, it’s not like I didn’t see it coming.” Scott was surprised. Lydia smirked. “You invited her to spend the weekend and to meet all of your friends. Plus, it’s you.”

Stiles smiled brightly looking at his friend. “I literally _just_ said that!”

“Did she knew that?”

“Don’t worry, she was too excited to meet everybody that she didn’t even realize it what it meant.” Lydia smiled kindly. Scott and Allison were such a great couple, lucky to have found each other. “I’m glad you do love her, you know.”

“I’m glad she loves me back too.”

“Do I need to give you the whole ‘you hurt her, I’ll kill you’ talk?”

“I believe you already did when we first met.” He smiled.

“Oh, god, I need to have one of those with Allison.” Stiles realized, looking at his best friend. “You need to tell me this stuff, I can’t be behind schedule. People will think I’m a bad best friend.”

There was a knock on the door, diverting the attention from Scott. Derek was standing on the threshold, with a straight face. He smiled slightly to Lydia and looked at the boys.

“If I remember correctly, the two of you promised to get your junk out of my car before I went back to my apartment.” The boys groaned in protest, but Derek didn’t even blink. “It’s your choice. Or you take them or I’ll put it all in the trash.”

“Fine, we’re _coming_ ,” Stiles said standing up. The quick glance to Lydia was almost imperceptible, but she caught it in time before he could leave the room with Scott on his feet.

Lydia couldn’t help but blush over it. That was something she was so not used to. Blushing. She was the one who’d normally cause the blush, being from her flirting with people or just staying in the room with them, but Stiles caused this effect on her. It wasn’t like she was uncomfortable with it; the problem was how everything was new for her.

Her mind wandered for a while, thinking about the mixed feelings she got since she first met Stiles. The uncomfortableness, the sense of familiarity, the trust, the intimacy, the burning feeling behind her neck every time he touched her. That was the first time something like that had happened and Lydia wondered if that was what Allison felt with Scott.

Jackson was her first real boyfriend and a lot of her firsts were with him. A lot of her feelings were discovered from the years they’d been together and most of them changed as it progressed, but her proximity with Stiles made her realized that she was going through firsts as well. Better firsts. Exciting ones.

And that was scary.

She wasn’t great at relationships, platonic or romantic. Lydia had a really hard time connecting with people and sometimes she wondered how in the name of God had Allison stuck for so long? Her flaws were very well known for both Lydia and Allison, and, in her opinion, they overcame her qualities.

But Allison once told Lydia her biggest flaw was that she didn’t see how great she truly was.

And Lydia wanted to believe that so much, but that was Allison. She was nice to every human being that crossed her path and she was her best friend. Best friends are supposed to support you and make you feel special. But Lydia never fully did.

At least not until her night with Stiles. She remembered how his eyes looked at her kindly before she kissed him, or how he kept asking her consent over and over again, kissing every part of her, sucking her in every way possible.

She was perfectly aware that he didn’t have to. He could’ve just fucked her drunk self and take nothing from it, but that wasn’t what happened.  He saw her, he cared about her, and he listened to her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden hand that grabbed her elbow. She turned to see whom It belonged to and wasn’t surprised when she saw Jackson standing so close to her with squinted eyes.

“What do you want?” She asked, pulling her arm back from his embrace. It didn’t seem to make the situation better.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” He hissed, taking a step further. “Showing up dressed like _that_ , fucking some guy…”

“ _My boyfriend_. Don’t forget the word, sweetheart.” The smile she gave him was cold, the same one she constantly used in High School. “Just remember that it’s the same as yours… Except the ‘ex’ isn’t in front of it.”

The plan was to make a strong exit and leave Jackson with his anger. But before she could walk more than a foot away from him, his hand closed strongly on her arm and pulling her back violently, until her back is pressed against the wall.

That scared Lydia. Jackson never did something like this when they were together. He was more inclined to the emotional abuse rather of the physical one. He liked to yell, to call her names and make sure she knew that everything wrong in his life was because of her. How she was not worth it, not important. How she was no one.

“You stop playing games with me, Lydia.” He’s holding both of her wrists, making her stay still. He’s so close to her face and she can smell the beer of his mouth. “I had it pretty easy on you so far. I kept my cool the whole time I was here, but you pushed me to the edge of it.”

“Jackson, let me go.” She trembled. “I’ll scream.”

“Oh, _I dare you_ to scream.” His face was close to her, eyes focused on her lips and she realized he wanted to kiss her. She moved her face to the side, but Jackson tightens the embrace in her wrist. “I never liked when you screamed, Lydia. Remember?”

“ _What the fuck is going on here?”_

Lydia managed to look behind Jackson’s head and spotted Malia, standing outside the room. When she noticed Lydia’s expression, she glared at Jackson, marching in. He looked at Malia’s face; not bothering to pretend everything was fine.

“This doesn’t concern you.” Seeing that Malia didn’t move, Jackson glared at her. Lydia had been on the receiving end of that expression and the fact Malia returned the look, was surprising. In fact, she took a step further. “Get the fuck out.”

“Let her go. Now.” He still didn’t move, so Malia pulled one of his arms from Lydia’s wrist, twisting it hard, and giving a chance for the strawberry blonde to get as far away from him as she could. Malia only let him go after seeing Lydia behind her. “Leave.”

“You little…” His eyes screamed rage, but he still didn’t back away from the girls. He took one step in Lydia’s direction, ready to pull her back, but Malia was faster, punching him straight in the nose.

When he finally left, Malia turned to Lydia.

“Are you okay?” She rolled her eyes, annoyed with her own question. “Of course you’re not. He hurt you.” She touched her arms gently, but Lydia pulled back. “Don’t worry… He won’t come back; I’ll make sure of it.”

“Don’t tell Stiles. Or Allison.” Her voice was tremulous, looking behind her to make sure neither of them was near the room. “Please. It’ll end up in a fight and I don’t want to see Stiles getting hurt. Nor Allison confronting him.”

“Fine. But I’ll have to tell someone to make sure he leaves.” Lydia nodded as Malia left.

She sat on Stiles’ bed, trying to slow her breathing and fight back the tears. But the overwhelming feeling building upon her chest, the pain in her wrist and in her heart were too much, so she covered her face with her hands and let the tears fall down. It didn’t last long, but it was a relief to put everything out for a change. It felt liberating to not put on a smile on her face and continue her life like nothing bad had ever happened.

Lydia looked around Stiles’ room and noticed a bottle of some medicine on top of some books on his desk. It was still full, even though the date is from two weeks ago. She didn’t notice he had any problems with anxiety; he seemed pretty put together the whole weekend, but perhaps she was too focused on her problems that she didn’t pay as much attention as she’d normally do.

She swallowed a couple of pills, straightened her face and took a deep breath.

“Everything is going to be fine.” She mumbled to herself, leaving the room.

 

* * *

 

 

It was strange being in such a big house when there wasn’t any noise to fill it out. For so many people living in it, the quiet was a rare occasion. There was always someone giving the house a bit of life, being filled with friends in a video game contest, someone playing the guitar or just hanging out at the end of the day. The fact that the only noise was coming from Stiles and Isaac having a conversation, bothered Stiles to no end.

Most of the people had gone to their bedrooms, Malia and Kira taking over his, to sleep a little more, taking how almost all of them complained about the camping experience. It wasn’t Stiles’ cup of tea either, but the pain he felt in his back was worth it considering how he had spent the night.

At the moment, the only people in the room were Isaac, Lydia and Stiles, who had gathered around to talk a little. Lydia had seemed a little distracted from the moment she joined them, but after a few minutes, when he sat next to her, her head was on his shoulder as she fell asleep. It was nice having her feeling so comfortable around him, so Stiles didn’t even hesitate to pull one arm around her and pull her closer to his chest.

He told himself that it was safer to act like that in case Jackson walked in.

He also told himself to come up with a better excuse, because clearly, Jackson was the last thing that came to his mind when he saw her fast asleep on his chest.

But with that thought, he wondered where he was. It had been a while since he saw him around the house. Stiles knew he wasn’t with Danny since he had left as soon as they got back to the house to meet his boyfriend at his place. Jackson wouldn’t stick around without at least one person who liked him. Erica was also nowhere to be found.

“Where’s Jackson?” He asked Isaac, keeping his voice down. The boy didn’t even glance at him, still staring at his phone, annoying Stiles.

“Scott threw him out a couple of hours ago,” Isaac replied. “You know, after the whole Lydia thing.”

Stiles blinked.

“What Lydia thing?”

“I guess Jackson pressed her against the wall, trying to kiss her.” His eyes moved to Stiles’ face, noticing how that was new information for him. “Scott didn’t tell you?”

“No!” Lydia moved a little, grabbing the hem of his shirt, making Stiles freeze for a moment; worried he had woken her up. But her breath continued synchronized, so he looked back at Isaac. “What exactly happened?”

“I’m not sure. I overheard Malia telling Kira in the hallway. I think it was when you and Scott went to grab your stuff from Derek’s car. He got in your bedroom and didn’t let her go until Malia punched him.”

To say Stiles was pissed, was to downplay his feelings.

That’s why she was acting differently when she joined them. Or why the gleam of her eyes seemed to be gone. He looked at her wrists, noticing a red ring around it, marking how strong he had held her. His eyes dropped on Isaac once more, who was paying attention to his reaction.

Stiles’ jaw was clenched and he was ready to stand up and go after him, but Isaac was faster.

“Dude, calm down. He’s gone now.” He pointed at the sleepy girl in his arms. “She’s fine… Look at her.”

She looked peaceful. He hadn’t had the chance to watch her sleeping, but Stiles found that she looked absolutely beautiful. No matter what she was doing, she was beautiful. Admiring her face was enough to make him calm down a little, even making a small smile appear on his lips.

“You know she’s into you, right?” His head snapped at Isaac’s direction, surprised. “Yeah, it shook me too. I mean, how can such a hot girl have such a bad taste?”

Isaac smirked when all Stiles did was flip him off before looking at her again.

When Lydia woke up, she was alone with Stiles. She blinked a few times, taking a few seconds to realize her current position. Her whole body was somewhat pressed against Stiles’. Her head resting on his chest, her legs on top of his and her hand holding his shirt. Lydia truly didn’t remember being in that situation when she fell asleep, but she wasn’t complaining either. Stiles was warm and comfortable and the way his fingers were buried on her locks, fondling her, felt nice. She could get used to that.

She wanted to close her eyes and pretend to still be asleep, so she could stay like that for more time, but Stiles looked at her and smiled.

“Good morning, sleepy beauty.” He greeted, putting his phone away. “I’m truly offended you didn’t wait until your prince’s one true love kiss to help you wake up.”

“Well, we can’t leave for the guy to do the entire job, you know…” She cleared her throat, pulling herself up and away from his chest. “How long was I out?”

“A few hours… But don’t worry; almost everybody is doing the same.”

“Oh…”

She kept her eyes focused on the other side of the room for a while, not sure what to do. The situation was awkward, to say the least. Lydia wasn’t one to wear her heart on her sleeve, but the way she acted around him all weekend was new territory for her. For the first time ever, she couldn’t think of a way to be next to him, to pretend she hadn’t just fallen asleep on top of him or how they had sex the night before.

Lydia didn’t like that feeling at all.

Stiles cleared his throat.

“So… Are we going to talk about last night anytime soon or…?”

In a matter of seconds, a deep shade of red crept on his neck and cheeks as he looked away from her. Lydia held a smile from the sight of him. Stiles was the opposite of her, she noticed. It was too easy to read him.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“Well, we had sex, for starters.” He pointed it out ironically. “Twice. You know, the whole get naked and make out with our private parts kinda thing, right?”

“Make out with our private parts.” She repeated. “Seriously?”

“Well, what do you prefer? Do the deed? Fornicating? Do the hokey-pokey? The hanky-panky? Boning? Shagging? The horizontal hula?” He stopped. “I never liked that one, to be honest… I know how the dance goes, so it’s hard to imagine people doing horizontally… But I guess they didn’t get the expression because of the dancing, right? Or did they? Wait a second…”

“Stiles, I got the point.” She put her hand on top of his, stopping him for googling the origin of the expression. “We had sex. Let’s just put it this way.”

“The point is we did it. And I was wondering what… it was. What it meant.”

“I think we just established it was sex.” He glared at her, making Lydia sigh. She was hoping to avoid the subject for longer, only having to bring it up when she was home and he calling her to repeat the act. Handling things over the phone was so much easier than face to face. “I don’t know. The heat of the moment? My drunk-self being horny?”

Stiles stayed silent for a while, before moving his hand away from hers. She tried to ignore the fact that when he let go of her hand, it became colder almost instantly. Like something was missing from her. The truth was: Lydia knew it was more than that. But she didn’t want to get into something she wasn’t sure how to feel or act about it. Stiles was different. He was kind, smart, funny and Lydia liked herself around him.

But she was scared.

Scared of making the same mistakes, to go through the same path she had gone with Jackson, to feel shattered just like her current state. It was safer to avoid all this than to get her heart broken later.

But.

“I like you.”

She only realized what she had said a few seconds later when Stiles' eyes locked on hers. The surprise on his face was almost as big as the one in hers and the fact that he avoided saying something for a while ate her alive. There was no backing away from this. Lydia wanted to look away from him desperately, but the intensity of his eyes on hers was bigger than anything else she could do. So she held on, waiting for the words to come out of his mouth.

“I like you too, Lydia.” His voice was low, as he was trying to figure it out what to say next. “I don’t… I’m not asking for you to get into something with me. I know you have a lot of healing to do and we literally _just met_. But I don’t want to pretend nothing happened. Unless... You want to.”

Lydia didn’t get the chance to answer him once they heard a knock on the door. Allison walked in, unaware of what she had interrupted.

“Lydia, are you ready? It’s getting late…”

“Yeah, I just need to grab my stuff.” She nodded and left the room. Lydia stood up, not making eye contact with Stiles and heading to his room.

Part of Lydia was relieved that her best friend had avoided the prolongation of that conversation, but the other part was curious on what would've been if they kept going.

As she gathered her stuff on Stiles bedroom, she wondered what would happen if she gave Stiles a chance — a real chance. They already had a lot in common; he was one of the few people who could keep up with her, delivering snarky remarks and not being offended whenever she spoke her mind.

And Lydia could be herself. She wouldn't have to hide her intelligence, lie about being in the mall when in fact she was studying, he might even join her.

She couldn't think of one thing to be worried about if she gave him a chance.

Except that she was afraid. And that was her biggest weaknesses.

When she made her way down, Allison was already waiting for her at the door. Her arms were around Scott’s neck, giving a final kiss when the brunette noticed her.

“Call me when you get home, okay?” She heard Scott murmured between kisses. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

Lydia's eyes met Stiles as he walked towards her with his hands in his pockets. He sent her a small smile, stopping a foot in front of her.

“I guess this is it.” She said. “Thank you for helping me out with…”

“Don't worry about it.” He interrupted. “I was glad to help.”

Her eyes stayed on him for a few more seconds, trying to make her mind if she should say something, _anything,_ to give the answer she wanted to him. Instead, she turned around and caught Allison looking at them intensely. The brunette kissed Scott one more time and grabbed her bag, waving goodbye at Stiles.

Lydia hugged Scott, hating herself for being such a coward, but as soon as she walked towards the door, she heard Stiles.

“Lydia,” She turned around as he came closer to her. His fingers tapped on his waist as he looked for more words to say. She could tell that all that was an impulse move, he didn’t know what words to use yet. The way he was still silent made her wonder if he was trying to remember a monologue or if he was looking for specifical words to say. But then, when he figured it out, all it came out was a combination of simple words, making Lydia’s heart warmer. “Would you like to go on a date with me? And… You know… Show up?”

She could hear Allison excited squeak and see Scott sending a thumbs up for his best friend. His eyes were expectantly and Lydia wondered if there was enough silence in the room she could hear his heart beating. She wondered if it was at the same pace as hers.

She decides that she’ll find the answer when they’re alone once more.

“Yeah” Lydia smiled brightly, “I’d love that.”

 

* * *

 

It took five whole minutes into the driving to Allison say something about it. Lydia was almost relieved when she did, the tension was building up since they got in the vehicle and she was thirty seconds from breaking the silence just to hear Allison say I told you so.

But Allison held strong, trying to play it cool and not be too eager when she finally said something.

It was needless to say she failed miserably.

“So…” Lydia looked at her, raising her eyebrows. “Can I just say how glad I am that you’re not looking for a relationship or anything like that?”

“Oh, shut up.” And that was all she had to say as her eyes fell back on the road and her mind on her date with Stiles in a few days.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again!  
> I hope you all enjoyed this and I'd love to know what you guys thought about it.  
> I'm @lydiastxles on tumblr and I love to chat :)
> 
> PS: Fuck you Oxford Commas.


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